My Childhood Friend is a Murderer
by MemoryWriter
Summary: Years ago, Sasuke was threatened to choose between killing one of his childhood friends, Ino or Sakura. Now in high school, shooting-survivor Sakura Haruno discovers the missing fugitive Uchiha hiding out in their old abandoned House. Can Sasuke prove himself innocent? Can Sakura bring their old gang back together? Does Sakura realize why Sasuke chose to save her over Ino?


**Hi guys! **

**This is a new Naruto fanfic I thought I'd try out. (I'm still working on the Fake-Dating story, so I haven't ended that one yet.) This is Sasuke-Sakura too, implementing the others in the gang too. I'll include a character description in the end**

**I started this story when found the show _Twisted_. Loosely based on the show in the basic idea. **

**CHAPTER 1: The Day, October 31st**

_**Sakura Haruno, daughter of the town's local funeral director, reminisces on the memories of her childhood friend, Sasuke Uchiha, years after his mysterious and infamous murder of Ino Yamanaka several years ago. Sakura thinks she's over loosing all her old friends, but one day Sasuke returns to Leafville at their old hide out. Why is he back? Why did he kill Ino all those years ago? Why does Sakura still have the guts to trust him after all this time?**_

* * *

It's strange to think about life, especially in those spontaneous moment of the day. When you're eating your cereal and wondering whether the milk is still good or not, or while you're on the bus or train watching what seems like millions of trees and buildings pass by with 'motion blur' past the windows.

You can ask yourself, without warning dare I say, 'why am I alive?' – 'where do we go after we die?' – 'where did everyone else go?' – '_Why did I survive when _she_ didn't?_'

I'm sorry. It's a cycle I repeat with myself every now and again. It'll start with a question, which will lead to deeper and more complicated ones, until they stop at that last survival question, to which I also never have an answer for.

"Hey Ino," I greet, laying a small flower over her grave. The one I left before has gone. Maybe blown away by the wind or tossed away by the grave keepers or something. She liked flowers, so I try something new every time. "It's Halloween today. Pretty chilly, too." I hug my arms, soothed away in my cool hoodie. It's just sunrise, so I have plenty of time before school.

I always do.

"I'm not dressing up this year – big shocker I know," I try out with a sarcastic laugh. I stopped dressing up for Halloween long ago when I was a kid. It was too much of a memory that day. "But we're 17 now. What other costumes would there be for us anyway besides the lame slutty ones huh?" I search my pocket for a piece of candy I snagged from the kitchen before I left. Finding it, I toss it onto the grass near the flower. A present for Ino. "Happy Halloween, Ino-pig."

Halloween. October 31st. I can still remember when it used to be just a kids holiday for fun scares and future dental finances.

_We were maybe ten? Eleven at most, no older. There were a bunch of us, all friends. There was me, and Ino. Feisty Tenten and flowery Hinata. Rambunxious Naruto, the blonde knucklehead. Gaara, the quiet child. Shikamaru the lazy but funny guy. Neji the too cool for us but hangs out anyway person. And then Sasuke, my first and best friend. _

_"Kakashi," I whine as he fixes the angel wings on my costume. Kakashi is my adoptive father, and the town funeral director. He gets my Halloween Costume every year at the party store, but they're always so… dark humored._

_This year, I'm an Angel. In a funeral home. Even at the tender age of nine I can tell this feels so wrong. "Kakashi," I whine one more time in front of the mirror._

_"Hold still," he says, straightening my wings. But I hear footsteps in the background. I see Sasuke at the parlor doorframe, and I turn away quickly with a blush. "Oh Sasuke. Maybe Sakura will stay still in front of you. Put this on her head would you?"_

_Kakashi tosses my headband of a halo to Sasuke, dressed up as some pirate. "Okay," Sasuke smiles. Kakashi leaves the two of us. Probably to go fill a fake coffin with candy or something. "Fitting, an angel this year," Sasuke comments._

_"Shut up," I say, unable to hide a laughing smile as he puts my headband on. And now with my halo, I was a complete angel. _

_Sasuke and I left my house (aka the funeral home), and went to go meet up with our friends at "The House" – this huge abandoned house sitting alone a few blocks away. It's boarded up and has been 'FOR SALE' by some unnamed owner for apparently decades. It's so untouched that one day, we claimed it as our own clubhouse. And today, it's our meeting spot once more for trick or treating. _

_Our little group of friends went all around the town trick or treating, seeing who got the most candy, who could sustain from eating it all the longest, all that fun stuff. _

_I can remember tiny details, like how Naruto just had this weird hand-painted mask, and how Tenten was a ninja that looked super cool. I could even remember Shikamaru being the only one not wearing a costume, so Ino drew all over any visible part of his skin with lipstick. And yet, somehow, at some turn at night, everything had taken such a huge turn. It's so blurry, I can barely remember how. _

_"Sasuke…" I whimper, huddling close to Ino in a corner of a dark room. I feel so cold, an unable to breathe from fear. Ino must be the same. _

_In the next room over, I hear gunshots, and then two thumps. Two dead. Sasuke's parents. The second gunshot is enough for have Ino hurdle her head into my chest as we try desperately not to cry too loud._

_When the shadow grows, Sasuke appears slowly, a terrified look on his face – the gun in his hand. It's a faint memory, but another shadow lies behind the wall. _

_"Sasuke," I whisper. I can't speak any louder, no matter how hard I wanted to. "Sasuke."_

_"Separate," we're told. I want to say Sasuke told us to, but for some reason I believe someone else had told us to. Ino and I shake as we let go of one another, and carefully scoot away from each other. We're about four feet away from one another, both of us petrified in Sasuke's stare and line of fire. Am I staring into his eyes or his gun?_

_He raises it, and I can't feel anything anymore. Am I dead yet? Maybe he shot so fast I didn't even feel it? I'm still breathing right?_

_"Pick one," the same voice says. Now I know it isn't Sasuke. There's someone else. This isn't Sasuke's doing. "Shoot one," it repeats. How did it come to this? I just notice now how afraid Sasuke looks. _

_"B-But…" Sasuke stutters._

_"… _Pick_," the voice says more seriously. "Or both die."_

_One beat. Two beats. Three beats. I've been reduced to counting how many breaths and beats I have until it's all over. Will I know it's over when I die? _Sasuke_…_

_"NOW!" they yell. _

_A bang goes off, and my eyes shut tight, but I feel no physical pain. Instead, I'm over washed with something even worse – the pain knowing that if _I_ survived, then…_

_I'm too afraid to open my eyes. I'm crying through the sides of them, and I don't hear Ino crying with me, her four feet away. Instead I sob and sob as restrictively as I can, and more noises cloud Sasuke's house. Footprints? Police? Ambulances? More cries even louder than those in my head?_

I feel the autumn wind brush past my hair, bringing me back out of my foggy flashback. "Mm," I say, shaking my head. There are holes in that day. That one horrid Halloween that changed all our lives. I can't remember certain things, or even how the ordeal came about with Ino's death. 'Memory repression' they called it. No matter how much I tried to recall the story to investigators and police, there'd be too many holes to fill.

It went down in the records that Sasuke was psychopathic child who killed his parents and the daughter of the town florist. He was a murderer with no sense of right or wrong, and sent away for it – never to return. Demented. A monster. A killer.

_A killer who spared me_.

"I better get to school," I say, kissing my two fingers and touching Ino's shinny tombstone. "I'll drop by again, Ino." And with that, I stand myself up and walk past the crunching autumn leaves and other various tombstones.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Konoha High. Halloween. Everywhere.

It's been seven years since the day Sasuke killed Ino. I used to say 'the day Ino died', but after years of people saying killed and murdered, it melded into my brain –even though a tiny decimal of a percentage in my brain quotes the words 'pick' and 'choose one'. He didn't want to kill either of us.

He could've killed me.

He could've-

"Sakura? Earth to Sakura?" A waving hand spooks me back.

When I turn my head to see a horrid-painted face, it freaks me out even more that I scream a little. It's just Sai. "Oh my God Sai don't do that." I do a double take at his face. "What up with the face paint?"

"It isn't scary enough?"

"No no that's not it," I assure. Instead of questioning him further I give in. I probably looked stupid just standing in front of my locker. How long had I been doing that? "So what are you supposed to be?"

Sai shrugs. "Something scary by your reaction. Had to do something for Halloween." Right. School and Halloween. I give my first real look around the hall. Dress-up is discouraged on Halloween in school, but kids always do something anyway. And everyone's done something, whether it was spraying their hair, drawing on their sin, or wearing something to nothing.

And me, well, I probably stick out the most because I look how I always do – plain and simple. My outstandish pink hair lost its 'ooh' factor in third grade.

I hear laughter down the hall, coming from a couple of girls wearing skimpy Halloween costumes, like French maids or foreign princesses, or nurses or cops. One of them I recognize – Tenten. She used to be my idol – a total tomboy and a stuck up for justice and cheesy good-doings. Now, she's just like any other high school slut.

Once I slam my locker and walk down with Sai, I make note of other familiar faces I always intentionally ignored year round. Naruto, spray painting something on the boys bathroom door. Once a rambunxious troublemaker who meant well. Now an almost legal delinquent who's the closest thing to an expulsion I've ever seen.

We pass Shikamaru sleeping in one of the front desks of the homerooms. Once lazy, still lazy. Only he turned out to be a genius. Didn't stray too far from what he used to be, but he avoids all of the old group now – just like we do.

Gaara. I can see him sitting outside one one of the school benches, reading. He was a quiet but fun child back then. Now, he's feared amongst everyone in school and I can never figure out why. They're 'afraid' of him. 'The freak'. Maybe it's because I knew him once that I don't see it. But he's like Shikamaru in the way that he doesn't talk to us anymore.

Hinata I never see around, but she's a student alright. I see her every year in the yearbook. She's a lot quieter now, if that's possible. She was such a fragile flower back then as Ino would call her. I hear she's the top of our class, but so silent and invisible I never see her. I pass her locker, though.

And Neji, Hinata's cousin. He's in the gym Sai and I pass though, practicing some form of martial arts. He's always doing this, before and after school hours. Must be some form of jock he turned into, or an anti-social one at that. He has his new friends but, I still see the loner in him from before.

If there's anything we all have in common, it's that after Ino's death and Sasuke's sentence, we all drifted. Just… stopped being friends. Can't tell if it was intentional or an unwilling fate, but we never tried to fix it. It was too painful, at least on my end.

But even worse, they'll never know exactly what I thought heard the night Ino died. My thought that maybe, Sasuke Uchiha wasn't a psychopath.

But what's the use.

"So what're your plans for tonight, Sai?"

"Maybe attend that infamous Halloween party at Kano's for a change. We're Juniors – official upper classmen. Should do what all high schoolers do."

"You mean drink, hook up, and get wasted to no bounds?" I say as casually as possible.

"And you said you didn't know how to party," he teases and I end up rolling my eyes. A distant smile plays itself onto Sai's face, and he makes his way in front of me, walking backwards. "Why don't you come along? Get out of the house for a change on Halloween? Have a _drink_." He gives a flat smile. "Might be fun?"

I know Sai means well. In all actuality I should be a good friend and go with him, seeing as Sai's never drunk alcohol before, or attended any real high school parties. I guess that's how we became friends – two anti-social weirdos. Bound to find one another and make friends eventually. "I think I'll just stay with Susan and Marian tonight."

"Ah, the couple who died last week?"

"Yeah. The bodies are open for viewing tomorrow and Kakashi just finished prepping them." I'll never forget how freaked out Sai was when I told him I was the daughter of our tiny town's funeral director, living in a Funeral Home, with occasional dead-corpse passer byes. I thought he'd think I was weird too, but all he said was 'neat'.

_Heh, that's what Sasuke told me, too._

"Well, I won't force you," Sai gives in, walking alongside me again. "But don't wallow today. I know how you get each year on this day."

"Thanks, Sai." He may be my only friend, and maybe not the best friend in the world since he does some pretty stupid things. (Trying to teach the guy social-interaction was a pain in the butt – called me the 'endearing' nickname "Ugly" for the first three months I knew him). But he means well. Got me through most of high school without the others.

We split up and go to our separate classes for the day. Freshman and Sophomore Year, Sai and I had pretty similar schedules. This year however we're a bit more split up, so I'm mostly alone for most of my day now. And it's only October.

When I'm sitting in homeroom, the only face I technically know here is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a little early today, probably because I set a bit too much extra time from visiting Ino at her grave. So when I enter no one's around, except Naruto. And he's busy drawing a huge graffiti design all over our large backboards – definitely a pain to wash and erase when class begins.

I try not to say anything or disturb him. Or stop him rather. If we were kids, I this would be the perfect time I would lecture him and yell at him, and he'd go 'Ah come on Sakura-chan', or 'Hey help me out.'

Sitting at my desk in the back near the window, I study some notes I took yesterday. But I occasionally glance up at Naruto, using up probably three lines of chalk. Colored ones even. But his aggression and passion for pissing off the homeroom teacher seems to have died. He's going a lot slower, as if self-conscious.

Was it because I was here?

Soon enough a few more students come in, one by one. Not a lot, since it's still early. I keep my eyes down as I always do, a little relieved it's not just Naruto and me again, but a couple of girls walk in. Karin and her gang of copy cats. They just follow her around and agree to everything she says, like mindless people.

Needless to say they too were dressed pretty, uh, barely today this fine Halloween.

"Look it's the mortician's kid," whispered one. I could hear her from all the way over here.

"No costume as usual."

"Maybe she reeks so much of all those dead bodies it's enough of a costume already," Karin remarks, driving them all into a fit of giggles. _Eyes down Sakura, eyes down._ Unintentionally, I think back to a memory in Kindergarten, when I used to be bullied a lot for my large forehead. I was pretty gullible, and some mean boys were about to make me eat some rather poisonous paint, making me think it was edible or something. _Sasuke saved me…_

"Haha do you see her face? It's like she's gonna cry."

"Maybe she heard us."

"She's a funeral director's daughter. Emotionless freaks like her don't really cry. If she does, it's just for attention. Little drama queen victim," Karin huffs quietly. _Drama queen victim_. It's what she'd call me, because I had the most attention and press during the October 31st murder of Ino Yamanaka. Little miss survivor.

Somehow, having both memories of little child-Sasuke conflicting with that dreadful day of Ino's death overrides something in me, and I'm surprised to see a tear drop fall unseen onto my notebook.

The sound of slammed down chalk on the board startles me, and everyone around me. My head jumps up from the spook, and I see Naruto's arm extended onto the board, with a broken pieces of chalk. It ruined his perfect graffiti piece. I've seen Naruto angry – acting out against teachers and just causing trouble for the sake of it. But he looked different this time. _Scary_.

"Shut up," he says, rather darkly for his known personality. "If you know what's good for you."

Everyone seems to be watching, even a few outside the hallway passing by. Naruto lifts his arm and scares Karin and her friends by making them think he was going to throw the chalk at them. They wince and scream, but Naruto's only fooling. Serves them right. _What the hell's a pebble of chalk going to do to them, anyway_?

As if I can tell Naruto thinks they aren't worth it, he tosses the chalk back against the board. It falls anyway. When he turns around to leave the room and ditch, he and I make eye contact for a fleeting moment. And for that one moment, I wonder if he did that outburst because he's just Naruto, or… to help me.

I'm a little too afraid to mouth a thank you, but I hope he can see it in my eyes. _Thanks, Naruto_.

The content glaze over his eyes – I translate that as a 'you're welcome', and he makes his leave. No doubt he'll get detention within the hour.

Whispers fill the room, and I quickly wipe my eyes to dry them before anyone else notices. I look towards the window for cover, but I see someone out on the courtyard. _Weird, no one should be out by now_. It's a hooded figure – no one from our school. No uniform.

But as if he could tell I saw him, he turns around and walks away out of sight below the trees. Hands in pockets and a casual walk. It, reminds me of Sasuke, too. Mentally I slap myself. _Stop it Sakura stop it. Stop thinking about Sasuke. It's only because it's Halloween._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Just by wish, the day goes by a little faster. I don't want to see anyone, familiar or not. I just want to go home, away from all these, these horrible monsters. I can call them that because they're all in costume. But that aside, Sasuke and his face just keeps coming up in my head without warning. It bothers me, and it's like, really freaking me out.

Last period is free period for me, and I usually hang out in the library since no one else is there. Sai should be there, too. I really need to talk to him before this Sasuke-paranoia gets out of hand.

"Sai?" I call, entering quickly into the library. I walk past shelves and shelves for Sai. "Sai I really need to talk to- ah!" I stop, seeing two people making out between two of the shelves, and they stop too. It's Shikamaru, and a sandy-blonde haired girl. Temari, Gaara's sister I think. "I'm so sorry!" I splurge, making a run for it before this could be any more awkward.

_Great, perfect way to end the school day. As if Shikamaru already didn't think I was awkward enough._

Just as I pass the glass doors, I run straight into Sai outside. "Sakura you okay?" he gasps, holding my arms to balance me out.

"Huh? Yeah yeah I'm cool totally cool. Just, um, nothing hey can I talk to you about something?" I ask, a little high strung.

"Um, sure let's go into the library and-"

"No let's go somewhere else for a change," I cut off, turning Sai around and pushing him by the shoulders down the hall.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So I just keep thinking about Sasuke and I can't figure out why!" I pace back and forth in front of Sai. We're outside the school, with Sai seated on a bench on the outside tennis courts. I just explained today's events since homeroom, with Naruto saving me from Karin.

Sai ponders a moment. "I mean, it is _that_ day today. It's normal to be sentimental."

I holdback my laughter a little bit. "No. No no no no. I'm not being sentimental, Sai. I'm-" What am I? I breathe out. "Look, this morning, I saw this guy outside the school. He was wearing this giant hoodie and," should I say it? He'll think I'm crazy. "I think I saw Sasuke."

I hold my breath for Sai's reaction. He's just staring at me. Sometimes it's so hard to tell what he's thinking by his expressions. "Sorry. Not sentimental. Paranoid."

Oh my gosh. I breathe out, holding the back of my neck. "Maybe am paranoid. All my past Halloweens I was never this energetic. I just, sulked or something."

"Yup. Sulked with candy and dead people in your basement," Sai rewords, motioning his head. "You okay? You're really high strung right now, you know. Want me to skip the party tonight?"

"No don't let me ruin your Halloween again. I'm fine," I say. But my paranoia may be it. It's a… sense. There's something out there I'm feeling. "I'll keep myself busy today."

Sai looks disbelieving, but he lets it go. I vented, he assured, our jobs as each others' sole friends are done for the day. "Later Ugly."

I shake my head. "Bye Sai."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After school, I'm walking home by myself for a change. Normally Sai and I go somewhere to eat or we hang out in the school library until the school closes to do homework. Not today.

A few kids in costumes are already sprawling over the streets, mapping out their routes for trick or treating. _The others and I used to do that._ My memory presents me with a mental hallucination. I see me and a mini Gaara and Naruto running along, with Sasuke an Ino watching from behind.

I pass by the graveyard, where Ino's buried. And I swear I can see someone learning over her grave. A girl with long dark hair._ Hinata?_ As if feeling my presence and stare, she turns. Her pale lavender eyes are the same as they've always been. If anything, Hinata hasn't changed for the worst at least. Surprisingly enough, she smiles bitter sweetly at me. I smile the same way back before walking on.

"Guess I'm not the only one visiting Ino today," I mutter, a little happy someone else from the old gang still thinks of Ino in a sentimental light.

Does Sasuke still think of that day?

I stop near the curb, realizing I said his name again in my mind. Staring first, I hit my head with my knuckles. "Sakura come on. It's like you're obsessed with him." But, I'm not. His image just, pops up. Like, a sign I can't ignore. All day today actually. What the hell is my brain trying to tell me anyway?

"Sakura?"

"Yeah-?" I answer quickly turning around and swiping my arm back to my sides. It's Hinata, and it seems I scared her a little too. "Oh, sorry Hinata I didn't mean to-"

"No, I snuck up on you. It my fault," she takes, smiling gently at me, like she could make me run away. Oh Hinata. You haven't changed a bit. "Sorry for stopping you all of a sudden. I don't normally see you outside of school so, uh…" she looks like she's loosing whatever courage she had before to even come up to me. If I'm scared enough to approach anyone from the old days, I wonder how this must be for Hinata.

Instead of leaving her to fill in all the empty blanks by herself, I help her out. "You wanna catch up, for old time's sake today?" I offer. "We have loads of Halloween Candy." Seeing her slow smile is enough. Awkward silence, broken.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It's been ages since I've had anyone else besides Sai at my place. The infamous Funeral Home. It's hard for me to read if Hinata's any nervous about coming over. She looked happy at first, but I'm afraid to see if she's changed her mind.

"Kakashi I'm home," I announce, walking in through one of the wooden double doors. When I hear no response, that probably means he's downstairs in the basement with the bodies. "Must be working," I reword, casually tossing my school bag onto one of the front fancy couches. "Um, want some juice?" I ask Hinata.

"Sure."

We make a turn into an obscure kitchen, out of sigh from the entrance room and the parlor. Compared to the rest of the house, the kitchen looks the most normal. "Wow, everything's moved," Hinata notices.

I scoff a little laugh. "Well yeah it's been a couple years. Guess Kakashi liked the change of scenery." I open the fridge and take two juice pouches out. "So um, how've you been Hinata?"

"Good. School work's kept me busy," she says as we sit and open the straws. "It's weird to say, but I miss getting scolded by my dad for not doing my homework right after school."

"Haha, why?"

"Because, it meant I had something cooler-sounding to do with you guys. Play in the leaves or, have creepy sleepovers at your house to plan." The two of us end up laughing together, and I can feel the juice somewhere in the back of my throat. Oh geez, Hinata. She used to say the cutest yet simplest things that would crack us up.

"You hated my sleep overs and you know it," I accuse.

"Maybe but it was still something," she says, holding her juice pouch delicately, like she was holding fragile fine china. "What have you been up to in the mean time? Anything from the old days?"

"I don't do anything from the old days, Hinata. You know that," I say. "None of us do."

She returns the flat smile. "Guess that means you don't talk to any of the others, too, anymore."

I shake my head. It's an obvious answer. I'm not ashamed of it. Much. "I'd miss them too much."

"Like Sasuke?" Hinata asks.

I lift my eyes straight at her. A daring move to bring his name up. Even back then, no one would mention him to me after the accident. It was such a risky topic at the time and would set me so off end. Perhaps it was because, he was my best friend and he was just… I dunno. "I have been thinking about him a lot," I mention, just to let it out. Maybe if I talk about this with someone from the old days, I can let it die. "Today actually."

"Any particular reason?" she asks as she drinks. "Besides the obvious."

October 31st. "… No," I answer honestly, and a slow pause of deep thinking. "No real reason… just… his face," I start, distantly. "His eyes. His, stupid hair," I laugh barely.

Hinata smiles. "Maybe it's a sign." That's what I said. "Maybe he's thinking of you, too."

I doubt that. "What is this, grade school? Hinata you know Ino and Tenten used to tease me about that all the time. And who would I confide to? You. And what would I confide?"

"That, you and Sasuke are just friends?" she asks unsure.

"Percisely. Even worse Sasuke's a supposed murderer now so, he has no reason to be thinking of me. Or, anyone else of us for that matter," I cover quickly. She gives me a sympathetic look, which is just as bad as Naruto's old smug face. "Whatever. Sasuke's just a memory. He's long gone." I toss my empty juice pouch towards the garbage can and miss.

"Makes me wonder if our old treasure box is long gone, too," Hinata says nostalgically, sounding far away.

"Treasure box?"

"Yeah don't you remember? One day all of us brought a bunch of stuff to burry for our future selves. We hid it?" she reminds.

I try to remember. "Where?"

"At the House." When she says 'the House', I know exactly what she's talking about, and it brings back more nostalgic and painful memories. Our old meet-up place. That giant hazard is probably still up on its block. Whether our puny treasure chest is still on the premise, who knows. All I know is that I haven't thought about that place in ages. Too many happy memories not worth crying over.

"Wow," I manage out. "Haven't thought about the House in years."

"It's still around. I pass by it sometimes on my way home," Hinata tells me, as if it pains her just as much. To pass by it every day to and from school must be tough for her. "You should take a look at it. Maybe get some closure on the whole Sasuke thing."

"I don't need closure, Hinata. Even more so I don't need to go anywhere near that old place," I assure. The last place I ever want to be today is the House.

Hinata and I talk a bit more before she decides she needs to get home. Her older cousin Neji I hear is pretty strict; just as intimidating as her father (who was pretty scary already). When she leaves, it's nearing sunset and all the trick or treators are already out, touring the streets with their bags and baskets. I see Hinata pardon herself as she maneuvers around some kids on the sidewalks.

As she disappears, my eyes gaze across the street, to a small old, boarded up house. All the kids pass it, none ringing the doorbell. It's the only house without decorations. Sasuke's old house.

Staring at it, my mind shifts the image to a more playful time, when the lawn was greener and cut, and the windows weren't covered with wood or aged tape. Sasuke and I and the gang would be outside, playing on his driveway or sitting under the tree next to the house, with his old tire swing being hogged by Naruto. Now, it's all just an eroding landmark of the past.

_"You should take a look at it. Maybe get some closure on the whole Sasuke thing_." That's what Hinata suggested for me – to go back to our old meeting place. The more I stare out the door, the more compelled I am to do just that, despite how I initially refused.

Within the next five minutes, I have a long dark shawl with a hood, making it look like a cape or robe – helps me blend in with the Halloween crowd. "Kakashi I'm going out!" I lock the two front doors behind me and begin speed walking. If I want to do this, I want to be home before dark.

* * *

_**Sakura Haruno:** Main heroine; age 16. Daughter of Kakashi, the local funeral director; both living in the town funeral home. This is her reputation at school, causing her isolation and lack of social interaction. She denies sadly missing her old group of childhood friends and is the sole survivor of the October 31 shooting. She's paranoid that Sasuke has returned and as mixed feelings about her paranoia. _

_**Sasuke Uchiha:** Child-teen criminal; responsible for shooting Ino as kids. Sakura is suspicious of his presence in town. _

_**Naruto Uzumaki:** A childhood friend of Sakura and the old gang. No longer communicating with them, he attends high school with everyone and is known as a loner and troublemaker-delinquent. He still carries a soft spot for Sakura._

_**Sai:** Sakura's closest friend in high school. She confides in him all her worries of Sasuke and her past._

_**Hinata:** Another childhood friend of Sakura. Having also lost contact, the two have reconnected and are now on decent talking terms again._

_**Shikamaru Nara:** A member of the old gang. He has his own aloof reputation in school, and is notoriously known for his 'secret' fling/relationship with Temari, though Sakura suspects it's because he still isn't over Ino._

_**Ino Yamanaka:** Sakura's girl-best-friend from childhood, now deceased. She was shot by Sasuke Uchiha on Halloween as kids between her and Sakura. Sasuke chose to shoot Ino rather than Sakura. Sakura visits Ino's grave regularly out of remorse._

**{PREVIEW:**

_**I still feel weird nonetheless. I place my hood over my head. "There it is," I breathe out, seeing the tall standing haunted House.**_

_**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**_

_**"You think you can cover for me in class tomorrow for like, a period or two?" I ask.**_

_**"Mm," he pauses. "Alright. But be at school by 10:00 at least okay?"**_

_**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**_

_**It happens to fast I don't even see it, but when I open one eye, I see Sasuke's. And likewise, he sees mine. He, looks surprised? "Sakura?" he breathes out.**_

_**When his arm is gone, my hands fly to my throat and I cough a bit to steady my breathing. "So it really was you."**_


End file.
